Interview Process: I went through 8 conversations across 7 interviews over the course of nearly two months:
- Recruiter screen
- Hiring Manager interview
- Panel interview with two team members
- VP of Product Management
- Director, Western Region Utility Sales
- Recruiter prep for final presentation
- 20-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A
- Final 1-hour interview with the CEO
There was a gap of over two weeks after the final interview before receiving a decision.
Highlights:
- The conversation with Doug Wilson (Director, Western Region Utility Sales) was particularly engaging. His insights, drawn from over 10 years at the company, provided helpful context.
- The recruiter was supportive and communicative throughout, especially when preparing me for the later stages of the process.
Observations:
- During the fourth interview, the VP of Product Management (Joe) mentioned there were no notes in the system and was unaware of previous conversations. He assumed he was the first person I’d spoken with post-recruiter, which suggested some internal coordination challenges.
- There was noticeable overlap in questions between the hiring manager, panel, and VP interviews.
- The CEO interview focused on resume line items such as “How would you pull info from a SQL table?” The recruiter warned me that this interview would be more probing in nature.
Takeaway: The interview process felt overly drawn out, redundant, and lacking in internal coordination, a reflection, perhaps, of the company’s culture and pace. While there were some thoughtful conversations, the overall experience left me questioning how candidates are valued during the hiring process.
Advice to Future Candidates: Expect a long, multi-stage process with repeated interviews and extended timelines. After seven interviews over two months, I was not extended an offer. Consider whether this reflects the type of interview experience and company you’d like to invest in.
